Alaska: 1925-1981—Personal Percepts and Concepts

Alaska: 1925-1981Personal Percepts and Concepts David W. Lantis* Choice of A topic for this paper was difficult. Discussion of the regional concept would have been appropriate for my interests . Yet I could add nothing to the presentations of Preston James (1952) and Fraser Hart (1981) before the Association of American Geographers. Moreover, I attempted a regional categorization a decade ago (Lantis 1972). My regional activity has focused upon North America. Sometimes I have considered writing a popular article, "My Favorite 50 States." Ranking highest, in order of personal temporal discovery and long-time prejudice, would be California, Colorado, and Alaska. Nearly all of my geographic writing has concerned these states. What California theme might have been selected for this presentation? Probably an updating of an address given in 1963 (Lantis 1963). And what might have been the Colorado topic? Rather than choosing my dissertation area (Lantis 1950), probably an analysis of the nearby San Juan Mountains, where so much time was spent in my youth, would have been selected. Lately, however, my interest in Alaska has been rekindled; hence this paper. *Dr. Lantis is a professor of geography, California State University, Chico. His presidential address was delivered at the annual banquet of the Association, Moscow, Idaho, June 1981. 8 ASSOCIATION OF PACIFIC COAST GEOGRAPHERS Early Concepts of Alaska: 1925-1938 Our third grade class read Lucy Fitch Perkins' The Eskimo Twins (Perkins 1909) and created an Eskimo village atop cotton on a sand table. In rereading the book it is assumed the author was describing the Greenland Eskimos; the book provides no locational clues. Yet our teacher (Gockley 1979), who seemingly never traveled outside of her native Nebraska, and the book convinced me Alaska was a harsh land of ice and snow with long winter nights and inhabited solely by Eskimos. Thus at age eight my initial visualization of Alaska formed. In the fourth grade we studied a new geography book which contained photographs of the Alaska Railroad and of vegetables in the Matanuska Valley. So—Alaska is not all ice and snow. Added concepts included mountains, notably Mt. Denali (then and long after, Mt. McKinley), a sparse Anglo population, coastal fishing villages, and gold mining. I was an "Alaskaphile." Fascination with Alaska prompted an ongoing search for additional information. Following publication of Uncle Sam's Attic in 1930 (Davis 1930), I discovered a copy in the local public library. My concepts of Alaska were widened further. The book told of the Inside Passage, the towns of the Southeast (some, especially Ketchikan, partially built on pilings), totem poles, and Skagway, gateway to the Yukon and interior Alaska. I learned of the White Pass Railroad, the Chilkoot Trail (so important to '98'ers bound for the Klondike), river boats on the Yukon, the upper Yukon Country with the towns of Eagle and Fort Yukon, and Fairbanks, a log-cabin town, the so-called "Golden Heart" of Alaska. Climatic misconceptions were corrected somewhat. The mining of placer gold and the use of dredges were described. I became aware of Nome, tent city of 1900, and the Seward Peninsula. I also learned more of the Eskimo and of caribou and reindeer. Davis also wrote about the shores of Prince William Sound and corridors leading inland, including the Richardson Highway. Further knowledge gained from the Davis book included appreciation of Russian colonists, life of Alaska Indians, trapping of furs, the importance of salmon fishing, farming and forestry, people, tourists and the Alaska "problem." I garnered insight into transportation difficulties and the considerable use of aircraft in a nearly YEARBOOK · VOLUME 44 · 19829 roadless land. I learned, too, of the recently established Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines (now the University of Alaska) . Widespread journalistic coverage of resettlement of farmers from the upper Middle West in the Matanuska Valley added to my assumption that there was much tillable land in Alaska. Pioneer agronomist C. C. Georgeson and geologist/geographer Alfred Brooks had estimated this area to encompass 100,000 square miles. Their views were accepted and unquestioned by many scholars for several decades.1 I continued to read everything available on Alaska—much of it was poorly documented and "rosy-eyed." And, of...